Ava at 3 yrs and 9 mo Old

Ava is now 3 years and 9 mo old. I know it's getting old when I keep referring to my three year old as certain months old, but it's mostly for me to keep track of her progress through the year. Ava was having a hard time following directions and sharing with her sister, esp the beginning of the summer. We do have her go to time-out  and we also started a sticker chart as a reward for doing things such as: brushing her teeth, dressing herself, sharing, following directions, cleaning-up, eating her meals, and going potty by herself (at home only). After three months of working on all these she has been some noticeable progress, but still needs to do a better following instructions when she is told the first time. I am getting more strict with her with this too and hoping that with more time and practice she will be a great listener. She does like to exercise her independence and be a "big girl" and this seems to be a motivating factor in doing the right thing. She is very excited about having a new baby sister and is trying to help me out a little bit more. She tries to help me by picking things off the floor, since it's too hard for me to bend over and she also understands that I can not pick her up or give her piggy back rides at this time. Right now she is only going to gymnastics once a week for an hour and we just finished our summer play date routine that we were having every Friday. I am hoping to focus more on her ABC's and counting this fall before our new baby is born. Her Aunt Jen told us about an online pre-K tutorial called Starfall. She is able to sit at the computer by herself and complete some of the basic lessons. It's got great little songs, animation and prompts the kids using their computer mouse. One of her  favorite things to do are to draw with markers. We have a ton of coloring books and crayons, but she chooses to draw her own pics and use markers all of the time.  Ava also enjoys: practicing cutting with kids' safety scissors, pasting with Elmer's school glue, using colored construction paper, pipe cleaners, wiggle eyes, foam stickers, making cakes with Play-Do, reading all sorts of books, practicing writing a few letters, dressing her and pampering her Baby Kitty, sleeping on her top bunk, having tea parties with Charlotte, dressing like Fancy Nancy, watching Diego, building train tracks, going to gymnastics, Hello Kitty anything, wearing lip balm, painting her nails sparkly pink, and playing puzzle games on my smart phone.

                       She has gotten a lot better at hopping backwards on the trampoline.

Posing in her outfit. She was very proud of herself for getting herself dressed head to toe.

                                                               Star gazing with Dad.

                                           Building a fort for all her Minnies and Mickeys.

                               Baby Kitty, Mickey and Minnie are her favorite dolls to play with.
                                                   Ava loves to play with animal dolls.

                                                        Having fun stacking plastic cups.

                                                   Getting a ride at the UPS service center.

                                                    Painting a little jewelry box from Michael's.

Our Fancy Nancys. Ava loves wearing her super hero "A" shirt, her yellow butterfly t-shirt, tutus, and the green dotted head band.

                                                         Practicing her ABC's online.

                                                       Playing tea party with Charlotte.

                                         Putting all her dolls and animals down for a nap.

                               She loves doing art projects and often asks to start a new project.

                               Both of our girls also enjoy using the small stamp pads and large ink pads.

                                                    Sharing some ice cream with Daddy.

                                            Party time and chocolate cake! What could be better?!

                                                            Getting cozy after waking up.

Charlotte at 22 mo Old

Charlotte is now 22 months old and starting to talk a whole lot. She answers "yes" and "no" and says a lot more two word or three word phrases. She also finally got her bottom incisors and went through about a week of teething before they finally broke through her gums. She did pretty well sleeping during her naps and bedtime. She was mostly just cranky at times during the day and not interested in chewing or eating any of her favorite foods. We gave her teething medication to help her through her discomfort. Charlotte is also being more adventurous in joining in playing with other children, climbing, running better, and "drawing" with markers. She loves to sing Twinkle, Twinkle. Little Star and her ABC song. She pretty much repeats the first part of each song. Her favorite things to do are playing with her doll house, her tiny plastic dolls, her baby dolls, sitting in the baby swing, riding the rocking horse, bath time, watching Diego with Ava, playing chase, and playing dress-up with Ava. Charlotte doesn't like getting her hands sticky or too dirty, but she allows Ava to "paint" her nails with markers and draw rainbows on her belly. We recently starting to potty train her because she seems eager to get started. We have Dora toilet topper and Pull-Ups training pants and have started a sticker chart for her as an incentive. I think it's going to be a long process though, because although she is interested she doesn't seem to recognize to "hold it" till we get to the potty. She tells me after the fact. With enough practice it would be amazing if she could be potty trained by the end of November when her baby sister is due. We also inherited my brothers' bunk beds and she has been sleeping at night no problem in the lower bunk with a bed rail. Nap time is a challenge though and so far we have had to have her sleep in back in her crib.

                                  Charlotte dressed herself and hopped onto her rocking horse.

                                   Charlotte watching her big sister at gymnastics through the window.

                                                             Playing with water beads.

                                               Dressing up fancy. They both love wearing hats.

                                                          Dancing to Barney on Netflix.

                                                   Playing with baby dolls at a friend's home.

                                                 Charlotte and Daddy just before bedtime.

                                                          Tea time with her big sister.

Scooter's Jungle Birthday Bash

Our friend's little girl recently celebrated her fourth birthday and the girls got to celebrate with her by going to Scooter's Jungle. It's actually across the street from our home but we had never gone to it before. The party was a lot of fun for the kids and the parents! Check out Ryan and the girls going down the giant slide.

That's Charlotte and Ryan way up at the top. Sorry for the blurry photo...taken with my cell phone.

                                                      Ava with her helmet on backwards...

                                        Tryin' to make some basketballs. It was all super cushy.

                                                         Charlotte in the glow room.

                                                    Congrats on turning 4 yrs old Taylor!

Bubble Play Date

One of our last play dates of the summer was all about bubbles. The moms made different bubble recipes that made giant bubbles, bouncy bubbles and colored bubbles. The favorite of course was giant bubbles. The different bubble solutions called for corn starch, glycerin, Dawn dish soap, food coloring and even a little bit of light corn syrup. The giant bubbles were possible using a small hula hoop with a jump rope wrapped around it or you can sew tight fabric around it to help the bubble solution cling to the hoop.

Even though Charlotte loves bubbles she was much more interested in playing with the dolls in the shopping cart and putting them down in the doll bed. She loves dolls, doll house and doll beds.

Laguna Woods Equestrian Center

Grandma took us to see her friend's horses at the local equestrian center. Ava especially loves the horses and is not afraid of trying to feed them, which of course makes me very nervous. She at least knows to put her hand out flat and is getting better about asking before doing it.

                              For the first time in my life I saw two horses with BLUE eyes. Amazing!